Women's Leadership Impact Fund: Fall 2019
Lift As We Rise
From early career young professional women to women at the pinnacle of their careers, JWI’s women’s leadership initiatives engage and embolden leaders across industries to take charge, establish cross-generational mentorship relationships, and create lasting change in their workplaces that reflect Jewish values and place women on track to seek their spot in the C-suite.
Since the launch of the Women’s Leadership Impact Fund in June 2019, the scope and scale of JWI’s women’s leadership programs has rapidly expanded. We thank our generous donors and programmatic partners, including the Hadassah Foundation, DRG Search, and former Women to Watch honorees. Since the Fund’s introduction we’ve launched the Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project, rolled out our Virtual Leadership Lunches with more than 200 attendees, kicked off our first Masa Israel Women’s Leadership track, and launched our sixth Young Women’s Leadership Network in San Francisco.
Quarterly Impact by the Numbers
Young Women’s Leadership Network
$10,858 raised by the Denver Network and 150 attendees at Women to Watch Colorado benefitting the National Library Initiative (September 2019)
145 attendees at the San Francisco Network launch (June 2019)
92 attendees at the New York Network’s Brands & Bubbles event (August 2019)
30 Network members enrolled in the Chicago Network’s financial literacy cohort (Fall 2019)
Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project
75 attendees at the launch in September
25 applications from senior level women seeking C-suite positions for the pilot cohort
14 cohort members selected
Virtual Leadership Learning Series
3 lunches taught by former Women to Watch honorees since June, encouraging women’s mentorship, leadership, and civic engagement, with more than 200 attendees
1-on-1 Mentoring Project
More than 50 Young Women’s Leadership Network members and Women to Watch honorees in mentorship pairs
Programmatic Highlights
Young Women’s Leadership Network
Launch of the San Francisco Network
Women to Watch Colorado
In September the Denver Network honored four incredible community leaders: Deanna Bratter, Rabbi Rachel Kobrin, Catherine de Medici Jaffee, and Hadassah Wasserman; and brought together over 150 guests to celebrate women’s leadership with a luncheon and panel with the honorees, moderated by State Representative Dafna Michaelson Jenet. A portion of the proceeds from the event went towards JWI’s National Library Initiative to provide safe spaces for children living in domestic violence shelters across the country.
Chicago Network’s Financial Literacy Cohort
The Chicago Network kicked off its five-part series in September with a cohort of 30 Network members to learn from leading Jewish female professionals in the finance industry. With the aim to bring this program to all six Networks across the country, this pilot program engages and provides a deep-dive for Network members to engage in one of JWI’s key pillars of financial security, empowering them to take charge of their finances for long-term economic security.
Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project
In September we launched the Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project, in partnership with The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and DRG Search, with more than 50 leaders of Jewish communal organizations. Our project’s mission is to clear the path for women to ascend to top executive positions in the Jewish community, and our inspiring panelists discussed how we can build a workplace that reflects our values and emboldens women leaders to seek a spot in the C-Suite. This Fall we will convene a pilot cohort of 14 senior-level women seeking C-suite positions to engage in discussions focusing on professional development, creating safe and equitable workplaces, and mentoring the next generation of women leaders.
On October 30th, Erica Keswin hosted the cohort’s first master class on creating a balanced workplace culture and how boldly leading like a woman can lead to more vibrant and productive staff
Virtual Leadership Learning Series
Together women across the country convene during lunch as a virtual community to discuss best practices for building a workplace where women leaders feel empowered and equipped to seek their spot in senior leadership positions.
Session 1: Mentoring as a Lever of Change, with Ashley Szofer of STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors and Women to Watch honoree Laura Rebell Gross
Session 2: From Mentor to Champion, with Kate Berardo, head of leadership and development at Facebook
Session 3: Building a Women's Leadership Program, with Beth Chartoff Spector, senior managing director of GSO Capital Partners, Blackstone Group, and 2018 Woman to Watch, and Erica Keswin, expert on workplace culture.
Looking Ahead
November 6th: Virtual Leadership Lunch: Owning Your Power with Dr. Logan Levkoff (Women to Watch 2018), expert on sexuality education and relationships, and Rachel Braun Scherl (Women to Watch 2016), marketing strategist and business builder for female sexual health companies
December 15th: Young Women’s Leadership Conference
December 16th: Women to Watch Leadership Awards Celebration
Spring 2020: First regional Young Women’s Leadership Network conference in Chicago